


See You Tomorrow

by Sekundi



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: (at least if you ask himari), About half the cast is in this so ill tag as I go, Afterglow joined the track team instead of forming a band, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, Sayo still has her guitar angst tho dw, Sports AU (sort of), Tsugu-centric, except shes kinda over it this is tsugumis story, himatsugu brotp for the WIN
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sekundi/pseuds/Sekundi
Summary: Tsugumi Hazawa is in her second year, and an incredibly mediocre runner somehow keeping her spot on the track team. But when Haneoka and Hanasakigawa do a student exchange two weeks before the yearly championships, Tsugumi is able to reunite with the girl she's been missing for the past year, Sayo, and as they grow closer once more, Tsugumi starts to see things from a different point of view.
Relationships: Hazawa Tsugumi/Hikawa Sayo, Minato Yukina/Mitake Ran, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Udagawa Tomoe/Uehara Himari
Comments: 12
Kudos: 34





	See You Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valkyriereverie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyriereverie/gifts).



> To Selene,  
> Once again, this wasn't supposed to be this long, I promise. But I hope you enjoy regardless as I summon my power to finish the second half of this. Happy girl-iversary/birthday/coming out!
> 
> To the rest of you: welcome to this sayotsugu sports au/mild soulmate au that ran away from me (haha!) and is currently like 10k words and not even 75% done. I decided to upload the first half today and hopefully the rest will come *vaguely gestures* Soon. Anyways, I sure hope you're ready to read about tsugumi's insecurities, just portrayed through running instead of music this time! Actually @CraftEgg when are you going to write about tsugumi's insecurities properly lol
> 
> Mini playlist of the three songs/mvs this was inspired by: [here](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi-HBVrc5Oby6DLtNwRRJpY8-csEU-bsO)
> 
> Also I literally don't know how actual track championships work, I mean I spend my spare time writing fanfiction, so yeah I was Never A Jock. But I hope this au is enjoyable regardless. Enjoy!

News in Haneoka travelled by whispers, fragments of conversation falling out of eager lips, snaking down corridors and through classrooms, picking up speed until it was an inescapable hurricane. No one could get out of its path, but no matter - everyone wanted to be swallowed in it. It was simply too tempting to talk and talk about whatever topic was fresh until it couldn’t be stretched out any further and when that happened there was always the good old habit of making something else up. Himari had always claimed to anyone who would listen (Tsugumi) that gossip made the world go round, and at least within the little world of Haneoka, she was probably right.

The latest rumour in particular seemed to have been started by the student council president herself. Which, to be fair, wasn’t exactly unusual; Hina Hikawa did exactly whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. But the student body was entitled to be a little surprised when, at 8 o’ clock on a Monday morning, Hina called them all into the auditorium to announce that:

“MY BIG SISTER IS COMING TO THIS SCHOOL!”

Hina looked so overjoyed that for a brief moment, every student in the room, including Afterglow, shared her passion. That was simply the effect Hina could have on people. But then they began to think and wonder how on earth Hina’s sister coming to the school possibly related to their lives.

Before the hall could rumble with too much chatter, the vice president, Asuka, took the mic from a slightly crestfallen Hina. 

“Ohoho Tsugu, there goes your rival~” Moca whispered teasingly, to which Tsugumi just gently rolled her eyes at.

Moca wasn’t just teasing, however. Tsugumi couldn’t help but feel a little strange whenever she saw Asuka: she should have been in her place, but last year she had chosen the track team over student council, and now a first year with an ever growing number of grey hairs on her head (she gained one every time Hina opened her mouth) had taken her place. 

Asuka cleared her throat. “What senpai _meant_ to say is that Hanasakigawa’s track team will be doing a special program alongside Haneoka, ahead of the local championships in two weeks. The plan is that Hanasakigawa’s team will be arriving here on Wednesday, and training with our team for a week, as well as attending our school and getting fully immersed in the Haneoka way of doing things. Then, next week our students will visit Hanasakigawa, and do the same thing.”

Half of the students in the hall gasped; the other half frankly did not care. Tsugumi’s eyes widened, however, as she looked across at Moca, Himari, Tomoe and Ran. Ran was focusing intently on Asuka, Tomoe looked like she was about to leap out of her seat, Himari’s hands were clasped together as she grinned and Moca wore a lazy smirk, but Tsugumi could tell she was just as invested in what was being said as Ran was.

“The idea is that this will not only fuel the _friendly-”_ Asuka took a moment to glare at them all, “rivalry between our two schools, letting us both be more fired up ahead of the championships, but also, both schools will be able to grow from this exchange. The members of the team will be exposed to something new, and interact with an entirely different group of people, along with having different training schedules, different coaches, and so on. We expect everyone on our team to grow as both people and runners from this experience. And look - I know we all hate Hanasakigawa, but these championships are bigger than that. Our schools are part of the same area - and if either of us do well enough, we could be going on to represent our little hometown against the entire city. It’s big stuff. We have other schools we hate more than Hanasakigawa, and we have to kick them to the curb too. So I expect you all to give the Hanasakigawa team a very warm welcome when they arrive.”

Hina once again reclaimed her possession of the mic. “And my SISTER is coming with the team and if ANY SINGLE ONE OF YOU ARE RUDE TO HER-“ 

“Thanks senpai.” Asuka said with a tired smile. “Right? Any questions? No? Good. That’s all we have for today - except your usual reminder to please stop going to the woods behind school to look for the haunted well, our own president standing right here can attest to why that’s not a good idea.”

“Actually it was kinda fun,” Hina said, but everyone in the hall had already stopped paying attention at ‘that’s all we have for today’ and were bursting into chatter as they scrambled out of the hall.

As for Afterglow - the humble name Tsugumi and her friends had given themselves in middle school when they’d started to take running seriously - all they could do was look at each other in anticipation, one sentence bursting from all of their lips:  
  
“THE HANASAKIGAWA TEAM IS COMING _HERE????"  
  
_

* * *

Tsugumi doubled over, breathing heavily as her hands gripped her knees. No matter how many times she did it, running the 100m was always torture. Not because of the physical strain it took, but more the mental knowledge eating away at the back of her mind that everyone was faster, that they could be confident running this race while it almost made Tsugumi want to cry. Even Moca, with her spindly limbs that looked like they’d snap at a gust of wind, got some of the fastest times in the school. (Well, her lightness was actually an advantage, but even so.)  
  
“Don’t worry Tsugu! You’re our long distance ace!” was what Himari would always reply with whenever Tsugumi looked downcast at yet another time a second slower than the rest of the team. And Himari was right, she could run longer distances than her friends, but that was most likely because she was too stubborn to stop.  
  
Tsugumi exhaled once more before looking bitterly up at their coach. She already knew what she was going to say - nothing about that sprint had felt any different from the rest of the failures.  
  
“12.94.” Coach Yoshiko said. Tsugumi winced. That was actually 0.1 second slower than her time she’d etched into her brain from last week. As if sensing her frustration, Coach Yoshiko added: “Good effort, Tsugumi.” 

Those words barely registered to Tsugumi, who just gave her a quick nod and grabbed her water, joining the rest of Afterglow who were taking a break from training in the corner, limbs splayed out across one another.  
  
“Awesome job, Tsugu!” Himari cheered, as she always did no matter what. She didn’t ask for Tsugumi’s times anymore. “You looked super cool out there!”  
  
“Thanks, Himari-chan.” Even when she felt like this, Himari never failed to uplift her, even just a little. “What have you guys been talking about?”

“What else other than the biiiig news, Tsugu?” Moca said, keeping her eyes shut as she sprawled out across the grass. It was a miracle she was still awake. “Our biggest rivals are paying a visit! It’s exciting stuff!”

“I can’t believe Hanasakigawa is coming here,” Ran murmured. “And we have to train with them. How the hell do we not get a say in this?”  
  
“It won’t be _that_ bad, Ran.” Tomoe said cheerfully. “Actually, it’ll be kinda fun. Plus, you haven’t even got a bone to pick with anyone from Hanasakigawa. Your biggest rival goes to _this_ school.”  
  
Ran squirmed a little in place, mouth already opening. “Minato-san’s not my rival. That’s stupid. She doesn’t even run. She couldn’t even run if she tried.”

Ran had a point, but it was also undeniable that she was desperate to impress Yukina Minato, the formidable songstress in the year above them. However, if any of them pressed it any further, Ran would snap at them before sulking for the next two hours.  
  
“Anyways, what’s that all that Hina was saying about her sister coming here? Isn’t she that gay robot?” Moca added on.  
  
Tomoe frowned. “Is she actually a robot?”

“I don’t know, ask Tsugu~” Moca said, wiggling her eyebrows (her eyes were _still_ closed). Tsugumi huffed.  
  
“She is not a gay robot! Maybe. I wouldn’t know. We didn’t- nothing happened.” Tsugumi said, hoping to draw a line under the subject. Moca, however, had other plans.

“You sure? You two were certainly doing googly eyes at each other the whole time at that rink last year.”

“Yeah! It was last year! We haven’t talked since!” Tsugumi said, hoping the hurt wasn’t leaking into her voice too much. She didn’t add that throughout the whole year she’d been searching out ‘the gay robot’ - looking at articles online about her band, listening to Hina’s ramblings about her, secretly hoping they would somehow meet again. But it never happened. 

“Wait, Tsugumi had a thing with _that_ student council girl from Hanasakigawa? Hina’s sister?” Ran shot up from her lazy position in the grass. “Why didn’t you tell me?”  
  
“Because it isn’t a thing! And it never was!” Tsugumi said. “She was just there at the rink to support Ako after the competition, being in the same band and all. And we haven’t talked in a year.”  
  
“But in two days she’ll be here for a week. And then you’re going to _her_ school for a week.” Himari said. “It’s fate again, just like when you first met, trust me. Hina and Asuka are just your cupids now.”  
  
“That’s kind of weird,” Ran mumbled, but Moca chimed in over her:  
  
“Hii-chan’s right. You can’t just have one meeting with a pretty girl who is totally into you and never see her again. That’s direct oppression on lesbians. Mark my words, Tsugu - you will reunite with the robot of your dreams.”  
  
Tsugumi understood how Cinderella must have felt when her fairy godmother told her she could go to the ball. Not that either Himari or Moca were anything close to fairy godmothers, but maybe if she tried hard enough, she could believe their words.  
  
Anything could happen in two weeks, right?

* * *

It was the beginning of the school day and lessons had begun, but not a single student in Haneoka was in their classroom. Especially not Afterglow, who were eagerly hovering outside the school gates, waiting for the minibus with the Hanasakigawa team to roll in.  
  
“Where are they?” Ran said, checking her watch. She had been on edge all morning, mostly due to the fact that Yukina Minato was standing next to her. Yukina was most likely here for the same person Tsugumi was _(No!_ Was what she yelled in her mind. She loved everyone coming from Hanasakigawa! Just maybe one girl from the student council more than the rest), and to her left was Ako and Rokka, the first year aces of the team. Ako was excitedly chattering to Tomoe, and Rokka was locked in conversation with Asuka, who’s usual serious expression was a tad more relaxed.

The Hanasakigawa team were supposed to be arriving in exactly one minute, and Tsugumi was actually full of just as much pounding anticipation as Ran was, except the person making her nervous wasn’t actually standing next to her. Hold on. That was a cause for concern. If Tsugumi was like this right now, maybe she would actually die when they reunited. And she was pretty sure her and Himari’s manga didn’t contain any depictions of the main character embarrassingly fainting at the sight of their love interest and having to be dragged away by their friends.

On the other hand, maybe Tsugumi was overreacting. What if the other girl didn’t even remember her? Or care anymore? Tsugumi would be left feeling like a-  
  
“Oi! There they are!” Tomoe shouted, dragging Tsugumi out of another cesspool of negativity created by her own mind. And she was right. The Hanasakigawa coach was pulling into the drive, an older woman, who looked absolutely terrifying, at the wheel. The rest of the team were completely juxtaposing her, however, eagerly dangling out of the windows to wave at the Haneoka team. That was most likely very unsafe, but when Kokoro Tsurumaki was on your team, ‘safety’ didn’t really matter.  
  
The bus parked next to the gaggle of Haneoka students gathered, and the minute the doors opened, the whole team poured out. Kokoro and Hagumi were first, of course, followed by a very exhausted looking Misaki and a bemused Kanon. A few girls Tsugumi was less familiar with followed, and then finally Eve, Tae and Kasumi hopped off, all locked in what seemed to be a very deep discussion.

“Tomoe! AKO! _HIIIII!”_ Kokoro said, leaping into Tomoe’s arms, quickly followed by Kasumi. (Luckily, Tomoe caught them both). Next to them, Hagumi had struck up a conversation with Ran, Ran smiling more than Tsugumi would have expected. Misaki stopped when she saw Himari, before giving her a nod and moving on. Himari and Misaki both specialised in the 300m, and their rivalry got more and more intense with every competition that passed. Moca was already laughing with Tae, and Eve and Kanon rushed to Tsugumi.

“Tsugumi-chan!” Kanon said. “How are you? How’s the cafe? I’m sorry I haven’t visited in so long, third year is quite stressful…”

“It’s fine!” Tsugumi replied. “Business is good. And having Eve-chan is a massive help, as always.”  
  
“You shouldn’t worry, Kanon-san, the cafe is flourishing!” Eve said. “Although I do miss your presence.”

“Ah, thank you, Eve-chan…”  
  
The conversation continued in a similar friendly manner, and while it wasn’t as if Tsugumi was unhappy to see two of her close friends, of course she was, it was just there was absolutely no sight of the one person she was _really_ hoping to see.  
  
Had Hina perhaps been mistaken? Her sister wasn’t actually on the team, after all, just on the student council, but she was supposed to be coming to oversee things. There was, of course, the possibility that perhaps she’d caught a glimpse of Tsugumi and immediately ran away, but-

“Matsubara-san. You left your bag on the bus.”

And there she was.  
  
It was so simple. There was no fanfare, no roses billowing in the air, not even Himari yelling “Tsugu! That’s your _girl!”_

Just Kanon’s drawstring bag with her name labelled on it, and the stern face of the girl holding it out to her.

Kanon smiled. “Ah, thank you, Sayo-chan!”

Sayo.

She was finally here.

* * *

The first time Tsugumi Hazawa had met Sayo Hikawa had been last summer, after a ‘friendly’ competition between Hanasakigawa and Haneoka. ‘Friendly’ meaning Tomoe had poured her water bottle all over Tae after the latter had won against her, but it was an accident, and Tae claimed she had barely been able to feel it because she was ‘sweating like a river’, and the relations between the schools were good enough they all decided to head to the local skating rink afterwards anyway.  
  
Tsugumi had gone skating with Afterglow a few times before, but every time she forgot exactly how to do it. Coupled with the fact that she still wasn’t too familiar with anyone outside of her friend group, she just stuck to the side with Himari, who was scrolling through the Twitter feed of a boy group she liked. Often Himari would shove her phone into her face and ask ‘Ooh, him! What about him?’ to which Tsugumi would simply have to respond with ‘yeah, he’s cute!’ Himari would work things out eventually.  
  
But then Tomoe appeared and offered out her hand to Himari, who promptly decided that Tomoe was much better than any man on her phone with increasingly perfect skin. Tomoe also offered to guide Tsugumi around, but Tsugumi knew that sometimes Tomoe and Himari were better left alone. Besides, she was content simply watching the scene around her. Kokoro and Hagumi were speeding around the rink at speeds that should have been physically impossible, Moca was laughing at some pose Ako was doing while even Ran couldn’t hide the endearment on her face, and there was a tall, rather forlorn girl by Tsugumi’s side.  
  
Hold on. When had she gotten there?  
  
Tsugumi turned around properly to take a look at the stranger. A stranger, for sure - but she looked somehow familiar. Maybe she was a student from Hanasakigawa Tsugumi had caught a brief glimpse of earlier. Yet somehow she felt even closer than that, like she was a person Tsugumi already knew.  
  
That combined with her downturned lips as she surveyed the other girls around them made Tsugumi decide she couldn’t _not_ talk to her. Anything to wipe that expression off her face. She looked like a puppy lost without their owner, and that simply wouldn’t do. (It was quite cute, though.)

“Um, hello!” Tsugumi said, as she shuffled a little closer. The girl turned, as if startled, but her features softened a little. Tsugumi looked at her empty glass. “Do you need a refill?”

The girl looked down into her cup, as if she’d only just noticed the liquid once inside it was gone. “I’ll be alright. I haven’t done anything particularly strenuous tonight.”

“Me neither.” Tsugumi said. “I’m not really much of a skater. But it’s sort of fun once you start.”

“I’ve attempted multiple times, but I’m yet to have success.” the girl replied. “It’s trickier than it seems.”

“Mm, and it’s really scary when you’re out there on your own with no one to hold onto.”

“So it is,” the girl agreed, “that’s what’s been holding me back, actually.”

“Are your friends all dashing off too?” Tsugumi asked.  
  
“I don’t have many friends, however, my sister has run off somewhere. But essentially, yes. I don’t have anyone to skate with.” The wistful, longing expression was back on the girl’s face, and in that moment Tsugumi made a very swift decision.

“You have me!”  
  
“Pardon?” the girl said, eyes widening.  
  
Tsugumi blushed. “I mean, you can skate with me. It’s less scary if we’re together, right? Or, at least it should be.”  
  
There was a beat of silence, where the only sound to be heard was the thumping of the music around them, muffled to Tsugumi’s ears as she looked into the girl’s eyes, waiting for an answer.  
  
And then those eyes crinkled into a smile.  
  
“Well, there’s only one way to find out. What’s your name?”

Tsugumi felt the smile spring to her own lips in record time. “Tsugumi! Tsugumi Hazawa.”  
  
“I’m Sayo Hikawa. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hazawa-san.”  
  
It wouldn’t be until hours later, once Tsugumi was close to drifting off, that she would realise why Sayo had felt familiar - she was the sister of infamous Haneoka legend Hina Hikawa. But as it currently stood, Tsugumi was too preoccupied to think about any other Hikawas she knew.

In the next moment, Sayo held out her hand - almost just like Tomoe had, except Tomoe or any other human being was a million miles away from Tsugumi’s mind right now - and Tsugumi took it instantly, blushing as long fingers secured themselves around hers.

It was safe, it was gentle, and Tsugumi wanted to hold her hand forever.  
  
They started out slowly, but together, they found the confidence to loop around the rink in frantic laps, laughing together and singing along to the hit songs playing on speaker (even if Sayo only knew one or two). Every time Tsugumi slipped and almost fell she felt the grip on her arm tighten, and she looked up at Sayo gratefully, and it was so thrilling to see her smiles returned.

Tsugumi discovered endless facts about her companion: she was on the student council, she hated carrots, but loved dogs, took her coffee black, and played guitar for a rising high school rock band, Roselia. In return, Tsugumi opened up herself: she talked about her family’s café, all the adventures she and her friends had gone on over the years, how she worked on student council with all her talented peers, her love of running, and finally, her dilemma between whether to quit student council or the track team.  
  
“I think if you love something, you’ll always be drawn to it.” Sayo mused. “As a member of the student council at my school, I could tell you to simply stay on yours, but you and I are not the same person. You have to work out what you love more.”  
  
“But I’m not sure.” Tsugumi said. “Later in the year I have championships, and I won’t be able to do both. But making a decision feels impossible.”  
  
“Would you like my advice?” Sayo asked, and Tsugumi nodded. “Find a coin, and flip heads or tails on the decision. It might seem ridiculous to place such a big decision on a small thing, but unconsciously, you’ll be hoping one of the choices wins, whatever the result is. Whichever one you’re hoping for, is the answer to what you love most.”  
  
Tsugumi turned the idea over in her head. It made sense. The decision still felt like a gigantic tower ready to collapse on her, but now it was manageable.

“Thank you, Sayo-san.” she said. “I’ll try that out when I get home.”  
  
“I hope you find your answer, Hazawa-san.” Sayo had mused. “And depending on what you pick, perhaps I’ll see you run one day, or work with you sometime.”  
  
“Yeah! I’d love that,” Tsugumi said, unable to take back the sincere words once they had fallen out of her mouth. But she didn’t mind, and neither did Sayo.

It couldn’t have been more than a couple of hours, but it was a brief moment and all of eternity in one. Tsugumi would have been content to spend the rest of her days in this rink, alone with Sayo. Her smile was beautiful, her focus on trying to skate well was adorable, and she was tall and pretty and _kind_ and Tsugumi’s heart was pounding in her chest. She would have given anything for the evening to never end. 

Yet before long she became conscious of people slowly exiting around them, and soon enough Afterglow joined them.

“Tsugumi!” Ran had yelled. “We’ve been looking for you.”  
  
“Ah, sorry, i just got a little lost in time!” Tsugumi said, glancing at Sayo next to her once again.

“Yeah, we can tell,” Moca snickered quietly, just loud enough for Tsugumi to hear. And Tsugumi knew _exactly_ what she was implying, and well, she wasn’t wrong. Tsugumi might have approached Sayo initially out of mild pity, but those feelings hadn’t taken long to blossom into something entirely different.  
  
“Anyway, our parents want us home, especially my dad, so… meet you in five?” Ran said. “We’ll go on ahead.”

“Um, sure!” Tsugumi said, as Himari mouthed a _Tell me EVERYTHING!_ and Tomoe gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. And then it was just her and Sayo left alone in the middle of the rink.  
  
“I had fun tonight, Hazawa-san,” Sayo said, soft and close to Tsugumi.

“Me too!” Tsugumi said. “And you got so good at skating by the end.”  
  
“Nonsense, I looked amateur next to you,” Sayo insisted, and Tsugumi giggled.  
  
“Well, I thought _I_ looked amateur when I watched you.” Tsugumi replied. “But I don’t mind. I’m just happy I got to skate with you, Sayo-san. This was… really nice.”  
  
Her words were mediocre, not enough to convey all she’d felt, yet Sayo kept smiling all the same. “I suppose you’ll be wanting to find your friends now?”  
  
“My friends?” Tsugumi dumbly repeated, as if she’d just realised she had friends. Which wasn’t far from the truth, her head as full of Sayo as it was. “Oh yeah, my friends! Yeah, I’d better go catch up with them…”  
  
However, there was no way she would leave Sayo like this. So she looked at Sayo, squeezed her hand, and said: “Bye, Sayo-san. I… I…” There was so much more Tsugumi wanted to say, and yet no words would come out.  
  
Once again, however, Sayo’s gaze didn’t waver. She simply placed her other hand over Tsugumi’s and replied, “Thank you, Hazawa-san.” And then she squeezed Tsugumi’s hand back.  
  
Tsugumi was overwhelmed with so many feelings, all she did was nod at least five times, before dropping Sayo’s hand and dashing away. She couldn’t leave without looking back though, as embarrassed as she was. She turned her head before she rounded the corner, taking one last glance at the rink. Sayo was still standing there, looking at her with the same wistful expression Tsugumi had seen on her at the start of their evening.  
  
Tsugumi raised her hand in a wave. Sayo blinked, as if surprised, but then her eyes crinkled with that same smile Tsugumi had gotten so used to so quickly and waved back.

It was such a small, tiny moment, but it was theirs.

“Maybe she’s my soulmate!” Tsugumi had squealed to Himari once they were at Ran’s house (they had all decided to crash there for the night), when everyone else had fallen asleep. “It felt just like our manga!”  
  
“She. Is. Your. Soulmate!” Himari had insisted back. “You need to talk to her again, oh my god. I can’t believe you found your soulmate before I did.”

However, within a year Tsugumi’s brain, utterly deprived of Sayo, had grown much more cynical. They might have had the magical first meeting, but soulmates weren’t supposed to see each other once and never again, paths failing to cross. Alas, that was the fate that had befallen Tsugumi and Sayo in the end.  
  
Until now.

* * *

It was Friday. Practice had just finished, and Tsugumi’s body felt like it had been thrown against a brick wall. Which, Coach Yoshiko claimed, meant she had exercised properly. Of course, being the athlete she was, Tsugumi loved the post-workout ache - the cooldown from the adrenaline and competition was unbeatable, especially when she got to enjoy it with a cold bottle pressed against her face and her friends next to her. She couldn’t deny being a little exhausted, though.

There was still the nagging thought that it was yet another failed practice, however. Her 100m time was still 12.94 - exactly. She couldn’t escape from this ridiculous number. It ate away at her, knowing she was falling behind her peers and friends, and not even her long distance times were improving.  
  
Himari, however, had different things on her mind.  
  
“So…” she began once Ran was distracted by glaring at Yukina, who was sitting in the stands around the track. “What’s the news with Sayo?”  
  
Tsugumi sighed. “Himari-chan, there still is no news.” It was, sadly, true. All she had gotten was a shy exchange of greetings that day once Sayo had stepped off the bus, and nothing more. To be fair, that had only been two days ago, and Sayo had barely been around at all since then, but Tsugumi’s heart was still hurting just a little bit.

“You need to find her, and talk to her.” Himari said. “You have the confidence! The flair! The style! You’re a catch, Tsugu, and Sayo’s a fool if she doesn’t realise that.”

Tsugumi smiled. “Thanks, Himari-chan.” She was more than used to her friend’s blunt displays of affection by now - if not still a little embarrassed. And anyway, how wrong could Himari be? Sayo was on the Haneoka grounds… somewhere. She was probably just being dragged against her will everywhere by Hina, who had talked enthusiastically of wanting to show her the abandoned well. Or perhaps she was busy doing Important Things. _More important than talking to you,_ her brain tried to tell her, but Tsugumi shook the thought away.  
  
Ran turned to them curiously. “Are you talking about Sayo-senpai?”  
  
“Yeah, but you’re banned! This is a girl’s talk!” Himari said.

Ran frowned. “But I am a girl? Anyway, I just think it would interest you both to know she’s been sitting next to Minato-san for a while.”

 _“WHAT,”_ Himari gasped, while Tsugumi’s head had already whipped around to meet Ran’s gaze. And there she was. Sayo Hikawa, looking down at the track, wind gently blowing her hair. After a year, she was still beautiful. If not even more so.

“Oh. My. God. She’s there. Right there!” Himari said. “Tsugu, you have to go say hi. Ran, I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.”  
  
“I only noticed just before my last race,” Ran shrugged. “I didn’t realise it was such a big deal.”  
  
Himari rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable. Anyway, Tsugu, what are you waiting for?”  
  
“Um… I can’t just go and say hello, can I?” Tsugumi said. She wanted to, but… well, Sayo was sitting with someone else. And it would be embarrassing. And there were a million other reasons already being listed in her head but they all shriveled under the might of Himari Uehara.

“You _can_ say hello to Sayo. And you should!” Himari said. “Look, just start off with a wave!”  
  
A wave. Tsugumi could probably do that. Slowly, when it seemed as if Sayo was vaguely looking in her direction, Tsugumi raised her hand. For a tense five seconds, there was no response, but then Sayo’s expression cleared and she waved back.  
  
“Yes! She waved back! Now go say hi.” Himari said, lightly shoving her shoulder. “This is your chance, you won’t be seeing her all weekend otherwise!”

Himari made good points. On shaky legs, Tsugumi stood up, before lightly jogging towards the stands. She averted her gaze from Sayo’s as she approached and climbed between the rows of seats, but soon enough she was face to face with her.

“Hazawa-san,” a voice said, but it was not Sayo’s. Instead it was Yukina, smiling at her. Tsugumi liked Yukina, even if she was still a little intimidating. She knew she was close to Sayo from all the pictures she had seen of her lifting Sayo’s chin at a concert or sharing a coffee with her at a local cafe, so her being here now made Tsugumi a little… well, there was no word for it other than jealous. Maybe it was pathetic, but Tsugumi was here to reconnect with the girl she had been thinking about for a year, and sadly Yukina Minato was not that girl.

Of course, she remained polite, because she did have manners, miraculously. “Hi Yukina-senpai! And, um, Sayo-san.”

Sayo looked at her, the faintest trace of a smile on her face. Or perhaps Tsugumi was just being hopeful. “Good afternoon, Hazawa-san. How have you been?”

“I’ve been…” Thinking about you? No, Tsugumi could never say that out loud, she would actually perish. And she had done other things in The Year Since Sayo - started trying to learn English seriously, taken on proper shifts at the cafe, gotten into Himari’s kpop girl groups - okay, that last one had actually started as an attempt to stop listening to so much of Roselia, but she did genuinely like the groups.

“I’ve been alright,” was what she was finally able to settle on. Like so many of her words to Sayo had been that night, they were hardly adequate or polished enough to be anything meaningful, but Sayo still nodded like they were anyway.  
  
“I have been alright as well. Busy, but alright, I’d like to think.” Sayo said.

“Ah, well, I’m yet to meet a single third year who isn’t busy, so…” What a boring path to lead the conversation, Tsugumi! Well done! She wanted to slap herself as Sayo merely nodded. Why couldn’t she think of something cool or clever to say, like Moca could?

Next to them, Yukina frowned. “Mitake-san appears to be doing something strange. Excuse me while I investigate.” Tsugumi glanced back to see Ran was sticking her tongue out and cycling through the rudest gestures she could possibly do to get Yukina’s attention. Tsugumi sent her a silent thank you as Yukina delicately climbed out of her seat. “I will be back in a moment.”  
  
On the outside: “Okay! Have fun Yukina-senpai!” Inwardly: _Yessssss finally Sayo-san time!_

After Yukina had left, there were a few more moments of silence, broken only by the distant shouts of the team and the faint flutter of the wind. Before Tsugumi was about to start deep searching her brain for literally any topic to talk about, Sayo began.

“I saw you running today.”  
  
Tsugumi coughed into her fist, embarrassed. “Um… how much did you see?”  
  
“I’ve been here almost all of practice. Minato-san wanted to watch, but she also needed help with a homework assignment. However, she finished fairly quickly, and we were able to observe together. The team is impressive.”

“Yeah, we are!” Tsugumi said. “But not as impressive as Hanasakigawa, right?”

“I actually find both teams equally impressive.” Sayo said. “I might not have much of an eye for it, but both are…” She paused. “Very fast.”

Tsugumi laughed. “That is true. But I mean, don’t you side with Hanasakigawa? I mean, they are your school.”  
  
“I’m not a direct competitor, so I suppose I’ve never gotten invested in the rivalry. I much prefer it when our two schools are cordial. It makes planning for joint events a lot easier.” Sayo was wearing a smile too, and Tsugumi took it as her cue to hesitantly sit down in the seat next to her.

“The big secret is that both of our teams actually like each other. I prefer it that way too. I wanna win races obviously, but everyone from Hanasakigawa is so cool and nice, and off the track, rivalry doesn’t mean anything.” Tsugumi said.

“That’s a different story from how Hina tells it.” Sayo said, gazing across the field to where Hagumi seemed to be attempting to play taiko on Tomoe’s abs as Himari pouted from afar.

“Haha, I imagine Hina-senpai exaggerates the truth a little.” Tsugumi felt as if she should say something else, but words failed her yet again. (Briefly she wondered how on Earth she was going to ever pass her Japanese Language exams if she was like this). Sayo seemed to like the comfortable silence, though, until she broke it again.

“What events do you compete in, Hazawa-san?”  
  
Tsugumi turned at the sudden question. “Um, the 800m and 1500m.”  
  
“I thought so. You seemed to be running very long distances when I watched. That’s impressive.”

“I mean, my friends are the impressive ones! They do all the fast sprints - I can’t really sprint.”

“Then you simply have a different area of expertise. Stamina is just as impressive as speed. And - this is just my opinion - I actually quite prefer the longer races. I’ll be looking forward to your races at the championships.” Sayo said.

“You’re going to the championships? Wait, did I miss you at the one last year? I’m so sorry!” Tsugumi said, as she inwardly panicked. First of all, it was the closest they had gotten to touching the topic of their year apart (was it even something to be discussed?), and second, what if her big second reunion with Sayo had actually been at those championships last year and she had totally missed it? What if the universe had given her a direct route back to Sayo but she was too busy feeling anxious over her times to follow it?

“You didn’t miss me, Hazawa-san. I chose not to go last year. I wasn’t the student council president.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Tsugumi said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to miss you. And hold on - you’re the president now?”  
  
“No,” Sayo said. “I’m still merely the head of the disciplinary committee - my bandmate, Shirokane-san, is the president. I just decided to be more involved in the championships this year.”  
  
“Ahh, I see.” Tsugumi said. “Did you want to be the president?”  
  
Sayo shook her head. “The role is a little too much for me. I’m content where I am.”  
  
Another stretch of silence, with only the breeze and distant shouts of the girls running towards the school building around them. Tsugumi could see Tomoe’s flame of hair among them. She jumped up.  
  
“We should - probably get going! Yeah! Wouldn’t wanna be left out here.” she said. Sayo followed her lead and rose to her feet. Tsugumi began to rush down the steps, idly thinking that this was ending a little like their first meeting. Except she’d get to see Sayo again on Monday, perhaps - if the universe was kind. 

As she and Sayo reached the bottom of the stands, a hand enclosed itself gently around her wrist. Tsugumi turned and met earnest green eyes.  
  
“Hazawa-san.”  
  
Tsugumi swallowed the nerves that had bubbled up in her throat. “Yeah?”  
  
“I’ll make sure we don’t miss each other at these championships.”

And then Sayo let go of her wrist and strode on, and Tsugumi was left to stand in shock for a long moment, before dashing to catch up.

* * *

By the next week, the Hanasakigawa team had adjusted well to the way of life at Haneoka. Coach Yoshiko was kind and accommodating, their school syllabuses were virtually the same (and summer break was soon anyways), and it only took a few days for them to get used to the fanclubs for multiple girls across the school, or Hina bounding down the corridors with Asuka desperately chasing after her, or the rumours of students committing arson that flitted around sometimes.

Tsugumi had already known what kind of runners they were, but it was different actually competing against them daily, even just in training. Kanon matched her in all of her longer distance pursuits, and Tae did too, to some extent. Moca seemed delighted to have new rivals for her sprints in the plucky trio of Kokoro, Hagumi and Kasumi, and Tsugumi still didn’t really know what was going on with Misaki and Himari, but they generally just seemed too awkward to talk to each other, rather than actually feeling any hate each other. Which was strange for Himari, but as the other girl had exasperatedly explained, their intense rivalry had just gone on too long and she was convinced Misaki hated her, even if Tsugumi wasn’t so sure.  
  
In any case, the week had flown by. Already, it was Tuesday, and tomorrow the Haneoka team would be packing their bags for their stint at Hanasakigawa. And then after that were… the championships.

The fever of competition had every athlete in its iron grip, and whenever anyone wasn’t actually running they were fervently comparing times and discussing tactics and how exciting it would all be and so on. Afterglow had already completed their relay plans, except they might as well be called Afterglow ⅘ since not all of them could actually participate. The 4x100m relay was not a 5 person race, after all.

“Ok, so I start-” Himari said.  
  
“You sure not Tomoe?” Ran frowned.

“Nah, we already discussed it. I started for us last year, and we lost, so…” Tomoe explained.

“Weren’t we all just slow?” a familiar teasing voice cut in.

“Okay, whatever, Moca, but we’re gonna win it this year!” Himari huffed. “Then Ran. _Then_ Tomoe. Then you do the final sprint for us Moca, and you better not mess this up or I will tear your head off.”  
  
“Scary, scary. I promise not to let you down, Hii-chan~ I do quite like my head, after all.”

“And then Tsugu’s our backup again.” Himari finished. “That alright with you?”

Tsugumi just nodded.  
  
“You know, I think we have a real shot at it this year.” Tomoe said with a confident nod. “Like, last year was kind of a mess, but we were just fresh out of middle school, you know? This time, we got it in the bag. Soon we’ll be representing Haneoka to all of Tokyo!”  
  
“Well, maybe,” Ran mumbled, “getting to that stage is really hard. But it would be nice.”  
  
Realistically, Afterglow would probably never get further than the initial stage of championships, but if they didn’t at least believe they could, what on Earth was the point of competing? Even if Haneoka didn’t exactly invest much of their money into sports, other students had still done it before them. In the entrance hall of the school stood their trophy cabinet, and amongst other things, it included the trophy the Haneoka Track Team of 1986 had won against every other school in Tokyo. There was a picture next to it, fifteen or so girls all huddled together, smiles wide and shirts rumpled and one girl in the middle proudly clutching the trophy. In her first year, when she’d been deciding whether or not to quit, Tsugumi had spent a lot of time looking at that photo. She imagined Tomoe’s big arms wrapping around them all, Moca wearing an earnest smile, Ran most likely wiping away a small tear or two, and Himari’s desperate attempt to get them all to cheer along with her. And she imagined herself, in the middle, holding that trophy.  
  
Even if it was just a dream, Tsugumi still believed in it.

At their first championships, she had come 7th out of 12 in the 800m, and dead last in the 100m. She’d stopped officially competing in the 100m after that, but she kept practising it because she was still the relay sub. However, her mediocre performance in the 800m just made her want to run more long distance. Perhaps she was just stubborn, or maybe she just wanted something to call hers. Tsugumi Hazawa didn’t have a particularly long stride length or the best technique but she could keep running until she collapsed, she reasoned. Even now, she still wasn’t quite amazing in either the 800m or 1500m, but maybe she’d get there one day if she was lucky.  
  
Running against her fellows from Hanasakigawa gave her new insight, even as she struggled to shave off her own times. She always underestimated Kanon, who started out so shaky it looked as if she might she pass out from a nervous breakdown, but always came flying past everyone else in the last lap. Then there was Tae, who seemed to adopt a new style every race. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but she smiled every time nonetheless. Ako had also decided to start running the 800m alongside the 400m, and Tsugumi was helping train her.

It was all so busy that between schoolwork and her shifts at the cafe, Tsugumi barely had the time to think or relax. Everything that wasn’t running or activities necessary to passing school fell to the wayside, and Tsugumi had increasingly little time to seek out the things she liked.

She was lucky that Sayo sought her out, then.

Her and Yukina had made watching from the stands a common occurrence, as common as it could be over a couple of days, anyway. Ran was also acutely aware of this turn of events, seeming to ignite fire with every step as she ran, and continually twisting her neck to where Yukina’s serene expression gazed down on them. Tsugumi, however, was actually able to focus with Sayo watching her; it was a little nerve wracking, but sometimes all she needed to calm down before a race was a wave to Sayo, or the thought that she’d get to talk to her afterwards. And besides, it was hard to be judged by someone who wasn’t an athlete.  
  
Tsugumi wondered if Sayo knew of the effect she had on her; every time she got a disappointing time, or even worse, another dreaded 12.94, it hurt just a little bit less if she thought of Sayo’s calm smile, or gentle words of encouragement. After a year of never seeing her, being able to see her every practice was like ointment on an old wound. And Sayo offered nothing but kindness - a different sort of kindness to Himari’s, she didn’t have the same enthusiastic passion when she told Tsugumi she had done a good job - but Tsugumi could see she meant it. Sayo’s eyes were too genuine for her not to be.

Even if Tsugumi couldn’t quite believe in her own ability, Sayo did. And the first step to having faith in herself was a hand to show her the way.

“Hazawa-san,” Sayo said, in her blunt manner of hers, when Tsugumi exited the changing rooms that Tuesday, wearing a loose shirt and shorts. “You did well today.”  
  
“Thanks, Sayo-san,” Tsugumi said brightly, before pausing. “But you already told me that when I got off the track. You didn’t have to wait.”

Sayo blinked three times, slowly, like she was rebooting. (In the back of her mind, Tsugumi sort of understood why Moca called Sayo ‘the gay robot’.) Then a small blush appeared on her cheeks as she said, “Well, I am sort of waiting for Hina. She’s just finishing up her duties, and when we get home we are going to be attempting some baking together. But I wanted to see you before you left, too.”  
  
Tsugumi felt the blush crawl up her own face too. “Aw, you shouldn’t have! I’m fine. But thank you, really, that’s so sweet.”  
  
Sayo shuffled. “Will you be alright getting home? We - Hina and I, that is - could drop you off if you need it-”  
  
“Don’t worry, I have Afterglow.” Tsugumi said, glancing behind her. “They’re all just really slow changers. But we get the bus together, and I’ll probably be at one of their houses anyway.”  
  
“I see.” Sayo said, her nose scrunching slightly. “Is Afterglow the name of your friends?”

“Oh! Yeah! I just say it on instinct, I didn’t even realise you didn’t know about it,” Tsugumi said, laughing off the small shivers of embarrassment that threatened her. “We came up with it when we were younger, we thought it was super cool at the time.”  
  
“I think it’s very nice.” Sayo said. “It’s like your own band name, almost.”  
  
Tsugumi registered the words in her brain, finding she liked them. “Huh… I never thought of it like that. Tomoe-chan can play taiko, I guess? But it’s kinda like our athlete team name.”

As if summoned by her name, Tomoe appeared, in a sleeveless shirt that had probably made Himari collapse in the changing room. “Hey Tsugu, Sayo-san!” she said cheerfully. “Sorry we’re taking so long, Moca’s trying to catch Himari out with that ‘what do cows drink’ joke. Himari’s not happy.”  
  
Sayo frowned. “What’s the joke? Cows drink milk, do they not?”  
  
Tomoe paused in the middle of throwing an arm around Tsugumi. Said arm hovered in the air as she regarded Sayo, before laughing. “I like you, Sayo-san. You’re funny!”  
  
Sayo nodded in confusion as Tsugumi stifled her laughter. A loud shriek was heard as Moca and Himari came sprinting out of the changing rooms, Ran following behind them with her eyes rolled into her skull. Himari whacked Moca repeatedly with her bag of clothes, Moca pretending to howl in pain. “Ooh, Hii-chan, you wound me so, think of my poor little frail bones…”

“I can’t believe you TRICKED me, you’re so mean, you DESERVE IT…”

It took them at least two minutes to calm down and realise Sayo had been there the whole time, Tsugumi shooting her an apologetic smile.  
  
“Sayo-san, you’re so cool, I can’t believe we’re coming to your school tomorrow.” Himari said, stepping closer. “Be honest: have you ever punched a student?”  
  
“Absolutely not.” Sayo said. “Every rule breaker must be reasoned with.”

“Guys, we are literally going to miss our bus,” Ran groaned, grabbing Himari’s arm and pulling her away. “Bye, Sayo-san.”  
  
This led to a chorus of goodbyes, finishing with Tsugumi shyly saying: “Bye Sayo-san! I hope you have fun baking with Hina-senpai.”

“I hope so too,” Sayo said, before raising a hand in a wave. “See you tomorrow, Hazawa-san.”

“Yeah,” Tsugumi replied, waving back. “See you tomorrow!”

No matter what happened at the championships, Tsugumi thought, it was such a wonderful thing, to be able to say ‘see you tomorrow’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, Coach Yoshiko is an actual character in the bandori universe! ...Well, she's not a running coach, obviously, she's the girl who basically worked at Galaxy all by herself before Rokka joined. I decided to steal her name for this AU. As for who Hanasakigawa's coach will be? You'll have to see...
> 
> Stay tuned for more gayness and a lot more angst next time!


End file.
